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Monday, January 25, 2016

So this is Brooke's Room. Before we bought the house this space was being used as an office. It originally had a linoleum floor. In order to sale they decided to cover up the linoleum with a crappy laminate. It looked ok but it wasn't what we wanted in her room.

We ripped out the laminate flooring to discover the linoleum. Who ever installed the linoleum used a 30 staples on center ever inch and a half. We had carpet coming the next morning and I was busting this stuff out with a pry bar until 3 in the morning.

So this is what the little bear "Brooke" had been living in; carpet and new flat stock trim. I overheard my little bear asking her mom if daddy was going to make her room cute. I have always done something special in the kids rooms to make them each unique.

So I started her room today. I decided to go with a 5 foot wainscoting around the room in a board and baton. I really want to do something with the ceiling but since only 8 foot tall I may leave it be. She wants a chandelier, and yet the ceilings are only 8 foot tall. Here I snapped my lines for the wainscot. Some pictures are fuzzy I have had this issue with my I phone.

Then here it is installed. I ran the same 5.5 flat stock base at the 5 foot level. I then bought a sheet of MDF 4x8x .5. I layed out my walls and decided that if I went 2" wide I could go all around the room. That way I only need one sheet of MDF. I then ripped down a piece of base to 1 inch to put on as the cap. I haven't painted just yet but I hope this week end I can get it done.

So I will paint this week end, maybe I will do something to the ceiling, and she, my little Brooke bear, wants a shelf for her stuffed animals. She has had a shelf in every house we have been in.

So while I was at work my Wife decided to take it upon herself to paint the Brookes room. She has sent me these photos so that I can share. And of course the best part is that our little brook loves it. No more tears for her.

I still want to do a ceiling treatment of some sort and and a flush mount chandelier. I think that will set it apart .

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

My First Home.

This was the first home that I was building for myself. The only issue was that with the boom in the market I sold it before I was done framing. I absolutely love the layout and features of this home.

This home sits on .5 of an acre in Eagle Mountain, Utah. I had just returned from Alaska where I was building a hotel for Princess Cruise Lines with Alcan Builders in Denali National Park. I decided that I needed a place to live since I was back home in Utah. This was before I had a really good digital camera and I didn't take to many pics which now I am kicking myself. I turned out beautiful.

Thanks for visiting and if you have any questions feel free to ask you can also check out my Pinterest page
or my Facebook or leave a comment I would love to hear your comments or questions.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

CMA Reports

A
"CMA" otherwise known as a comparative market analysis, is used to help sellers determine a fair market value of their property or help buyers that are considering buying a home and want to know what a fair price would be.

CMA
is similar, but not the same as an appraisal. It is the opinion of the
value of your home based off the sales in the area of the subject
property. We take the subject property stats and enter them into our
database and pull up other properties with in the area, with similar
characteristics. We then take the price that the comparative properties
sold for minus concessions to get an actual value of what some one is
willing to spend on a home like the subject property.

Concessions
are items that were included with the sale of the home. If a property
sold for $220000 but had $5000 in concessions. the house really sold for
$215000 and the seller agreed to pay towards something towards closing
costs, or carpet.

Often times people refer to other real
estate web pages like Zillow to determine the value of their property.
Many of the sites that offer this information tend to have old
information some up to many years old. This gives a false value of your
home. They also don't report concessions paid by the seller.

I
have noticed that most people really are not interested in
talking with a Realtor. There are many reasons for this. They don't want
to pay a commission. They just don't want to bother with a sales person
or they have had a bad experience in the past that has put a bad taste
in their mouth.

Unfortunately there are many agents and brokers out there just for the money. If you do your due diligence there are many Realtor's
out there that have a lot of knowledge and can do a proper CMA and get
you more money for your house than you thought. Every Realtor I know, me
included, will do a comparative market analysis on your home for free.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Coffered Ceilings

Once upon a time I decided that I I really like flat ceilings. Just for this purpose. I love the ceiling details that can be added to anything flat. I built this ceiling in a home I was building for a couple. I planned on doing it before they bought the house but I loved it so much that I decided I would do it anyway. because there is living space up above I had to layout my electrical before framing the second floor to ensure that the can lights would line up centered in the boxes.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NATE MCKEETH.

After doing the first ceiling I was building a house for my brother. I wanted to go a step further and try running light on top of the crown to illuminate each box. He let me do it of course. We put a switched outlet in the first box and ran a rope light around each box plugging one into the other. It is pretty dramatic. If I was to do it again I would also put in the can lights so that there was plenty of light in the room rather than just the led rope and table lamps. Since I am doing a theater in the basement of my current home I am considering doing this to add a nice ambiance. and the coffer in the family area.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Back In The Day..

I was going through a lot of my photos trying to figure out what to write about next. I came across some photos from quite a while ago. I don't have many finished photos but I have many in progress photos. I can at some point go over there and take some finished photos for the delight of everyone.

I was finishing the basement at my mom's. We were putting a basement apartment in, so I had a place to live in between houses, and of course because finishing the basement is a good way to gain equity.The basement was close to 1700 sqft. We started with the framing, and then ran the electrical. I started the Sheetrock in the one of the bedrooms but decided that I do not like doing Sheetrock. We hired that part out.

I added a kitchenette, a fireplace, three bedrooms, and a bathroom. We also added a little place under the stairs for the kids. I mounted a flat screen there so they had a place to watch their movies. So here are some photos for you to enjoy.

After taking the pictures I realized how low the the pendant lights where so we raised them up quite a bit.

So after framing the basement we decided that since we were running gas lines for the fireplace that if we wanted to do anything upstairs, that we had better do it before we covered up everything in the basement. so we added this fireplace while we were at it. It fit in at the time but we have been talking about changing it to be more modern. They didn't have flat screens at the time so we added the niche and did in wall speakers for the surround. I hope to have this done with some other updates soon.

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About Me

I am a contractor based in the Salt Lake Area. I have been working in
the business since 1998. I started by just framing houses. I learned a
lot just from building the structures and being around all the other
trades. In 2005 my company was hired to frame a hotel in Denali, Alaska
for princess cruise lines. They liked us so much that we were hired
directly to finish out the project. I then returned home and began
building homes from the ground up. I would try to hire things out but I
was on a budget so if I couldn't get the prices I needed then I would
just do it myself and pay the allowable amount. This was where I started
learning how to do many things.

The market as everybody knows took a down turn end of 2007 into
2008. I had multiple properties on the market and took a big hit. I then
turned my focus from new construction to doing remodels. Many people
were putting apartments in their basements to accommodate family members
who had taken a hit from the recession. I was able to find frugal ways
to fix things up and also give it that elegant feel that so many of us
want.

I have kept to myself doing these fix and flips but I feel that maybe I
have something to offer the general public. I am a licensed and insured
contractor. I have also been really active in real estate. I got my
real estate license in 2002. I have a passion for both.

My greatest passion is buying homes that definitely need love. I take
these and I use my strong design sense to create something that is
unique. I consider my designs to be an expression of self as well as
art. I take pride in my work and love when it is appreciated.

I feel everyone likes to be unique. You can own a track home in a
developed neighborhood and still be unique. You can have that "
something no one else has" it just takes creativity and vision.

I don't claim to be a writer, and I am new to this blog thing so bear with me as I work through this new adventure.